@BastardHead: Geographical illiteracy aside, I like the four larger divisions better than the six smaller ones. Too many times, the third seed was given to a division champ who was really just the best of a weak lot. That is much less likely to happen now. About the Las Vegas Mobsters or whatever the team will be called... feck. The team will sell out all their games from December to February/March due to snowbirds flying down to see the Oilers, Flames and Canucks. Apart from that I suspect they'll be roundly ignored.

I think the Black Knights (the current most-likely name) will do all right at first. Then, much like what will happen with the Rams in Los Angeles, people will stop caring should they suck cause there's way too much else to do there besides watch a sub-.500 team

So I am going to be insane enough to give UFC my hard-earned $60 to watch UFC 200 through FightPass (which I am still subscribed to because I forgot to cancel a few months ago).

This gonna be a fun CFL season! Grey Cup rematch Ottawa vs Edmonton. Our starter Henry Burris leaves due to injury, but between him and backup* Trevor Harris, Ottawa goes 40-for-50 passes, for 550 yards and 4 TD's.
* Harris started most of last year with Toronto, leading the league in completion percentage. So Ottawa basically has both of the CFL's best quarterbacks - over 10,000 yards combined last season. Welcome to the air show, folks

Bye bye Messi! If there is any justice in this world, the next Golden Ball will be Ronaldo's.

P.K. traded clean for Weber. Interesting. Those dudes were each staples of their respective teams, I guess a change of scenery was necessary. It seems P.K.'s especially glad, should be cool to see how they do with this little switch.

I didn't watch basically anything last season thanks to the move and newfound lack of cable and bar money, but it seems to me like Montreal had what, one bad season and then decided to just blow it the fuck up?

Wouldn't be surprised if he makes a comeback to the World Cup, making the retirement from the national team merely a good way to not have to play the qualification games and be in better shape for Barcelona.

England is thinking of hiring JÜRGEN KLINSMANN???!? I guess they're thinking it can't get any worse anyway?

Anyone else surprised by Kevin Durant's move? After how close they just got, I felt like the Thunder could/would grab a ring in the next couple of years, and he was exceptionally popular up in OKC. It didn't seem like he needed to ring chase though I'm not really opposed to superteams.

As far as season results, I'd say the Thunder can squeak into the postseason. Westbrook's still a great player, and the western conference seems to have weakened a little. I'm not sure what exactly this will do for the Warriors. They had to trade some depth and shed some defense for him, and I'm not sure how quickly he'll mesh with the team that it'll fully pay off offensively. That's not to say that it was a bad move, I'm just not sure exactly how good. I imagine they try to save it all for the playoffs, and they'll win or come very close.

Edit: I just read that Tim Duncan retired. I mentioned guys we'll tell our kids about earlier in the thread, and Duncan certainly fit the bill. I don't think the Spurs will be much worse next year, but it'll be weird seeing them without Duncan, even weirder than the Lakers without Kobe or the Heat without Wade.

Any of y'all watch this weird-ass shit at the MLB All Star Game last night?: http://www.msn.com/en-ca/sports/news/ca ... snsports11

Remi Pereira of The Tenors - a well-respected musical group - chose pretty much the worst time for a political statement, throwing in entirely his own words for a couple lines of O Canada. Kudos to the other band members for moving along where his weird little solo left off to finish the anthem.

Man I've never seen so much Bundesliga activity in any transfer window, it seems like almost every team is completely reshuffling.

So far, from the transfer activity, of the "lesser" teams (any team not Bayern or Dortmund), I think Wolfsburg is gonna make a positive development, despite their crippling loss of Lord Bendtner. I don't really get Leverkusen's transfers yet, I suppose they have a plan. Schalke will probably make some reinvestments of their Sané money, they made major upgrades to their defense already and got a Swiss forward that comes with a good deal of praise (though like with Dortmund's new acquisitions you never know if "talents" ever fully make use of their talents.) Hamburg is making crazy investments these years, though I don't think you can just buy yourself out of being a shitty club.

The Redblacks started this season 3-0 on the road. No Ottawa CFL team has done that since the Rough Riders in 1976, when we won the Grey Cup. Good omens!

Another transfer window story: Seems like every football player from Iceland is "movin' on up" this window.

Liverpool overrun Barca in a test. Hail Kloppo!

Werder Bremen coach Viktor Skripnik after losing 0-6 to Bayern Munich: "Perhaps it was too warm for us."

Time for my yearly fantasy football post-draft "how did I do?" post. The tradition in the league is to name your team some stupid pun based on a player you drafted, so say hello to Taylor, the Creator.

QB - Drew Brees (NO), Tyrod Taylor (BUF)
RB - LeSean McCoy (BUF), Latavius Murray (OAK), Jeremy Langford (CHI), Danny Woodhead (SD), TJ Yeldon (JAX), Charles Sims (TB)
WR - AJ Green (CIN), Dez Bryant (DAL), Michael Floyd (ARZ), DeSean Jackson (WAS)
TE - Jordan Reed (WAS), Eric Ebron (DET)
K - Mason Crosby (GB)
DST - New England

Ten teams, not PPR (hence the abundance of disposable RBs). Only one I'm really regretting is Langford, who seemed like a decent value pick at the time since he's going to be the starter but Chicago is just so unfathomably bad this year that I'm almost guaranteed to move Floyd into my flex position and let Langford rot all season.

Props to Crick for the team logo:

Ancelotti, to me, is probably the best coach to get the best out of players. I dont think he is tactically brilliant by any means, but you can trust him to bring the best out of the team. This is why he was able to bring Real Madrid back to Champions League glory after longtime failures. The choice by Bayern was spot on. Now will it work eventually for them ? Cant tell, Ancelotti himself wanted rest but then the bayern offer came and he snatched it. It's difficult to tell if he can actually get them the Champions league and if he does, it could be on the expense of the league title. However, there is this sense of no bullshit that comes with Ancelotti. He brings the best players on paper and uses them. Unlike Guardioa who tries to have his own "imprint" axing top players who dont "fit" his style. Ancelotti is very straightforward, since the beginning he just uses the best players on paper. This is why this straightforward approach made me think he fits Bayern Munchen, no nonsense machine-like german approach that optimizes the potential of the team. On paper, this seemed to me the most reasonable acquisition of a coach since a long time by any football team. Let's see how it pans out. Bayern isnt in desperate need of a UCL title as Real Madrid was since they won it a few years back, but they could still add more to their cabinet. They are at their peak economically and commercially so it is the best time to further cement their place in history.

Serge Gnabry is coming home to Germany. Sky reports Bayern is buying him from Arsenal to loan him to last weekend's sparring partner Bremen. This transfer period was pretty hefty for German clubs, a lot of respectable names coming to Germany, and some clubs certainly look worthy of the international ranks now. I think Dortmund are the clear winners of the transfer period, of course.

Not that it means much, as the saying goes, "money can't buy goals", and Frankfurt taking the pimped up Schalke apart last weekend with ease is good proof of that. Then again Schalke are said to just have done further pimping from Sevilla's squad.

Wolfsburg on the other hand is disintegrating. They're still in danger of losing another key player (Gustavo) and not even getting a replacement for Naldo/Dante or Schürrle/Kruse. Well, the latter might work out with a Heung-Min Son deal, but still no word of a new center back.

What do you think of Wolfsburg losing Bas Dost?

I think Gomez is obviously far better, if you've seen him in the last year since he left Fiorentina you'll have to agree. I've only seen him in his performances for the national team, but that was definitely the Gomez of old who was one of Europe's star strikers. Wolfsburg lost far worse with their entire central defense and no replacement in sight. Naldo and Dante may not be defending gods, but have the necessary solidity for high level football, now it looks like nobodies from Wolfsburg's reserves will take their place?

Schürrle/Kruse is mostly compensated, I already forgot about the Didavi (look out for him, my bet is the guy will be big) and Blaszszykowski signings, plus if they get Son as well they'll be fine there. And Gomez is definitely a step up. But that gaping hole in the defense? That looks desolate.

-edit- Looks like Wolfsburg got a new center back and it's fucking Wollscheid from fucking Stoke City LOL. Also, new report on Gnabry is that he goes straight to Bremen, no Bayern detour.

Just checking the qualifications on other continents, and it's still a possibility that both Brazil and the USA don't qualify for the World Cup 2018? USA is behind Trinidad & Tobago in their group, and Brazil in 5th place in the South American qualifiers.

Any Australians going to watch the AFL and/or NRL finals?

My NRL team (Dragons) didn't make the finals. They had a terrible season and couldn't score points to save their lives, so in the off-season they're going to have to work on how to get over the try-line a little more. I think they only scored about 50 more points than Newcastle (who came last with ONE win), so it's a concerning area. As for the teams that did make it, I'm thinking the Cowboys are not good enough to go back-to-back, with the Storm and Raiders really making a charge. I'd like to see the Raiders win (or the Sharks) but we'll see.

My AFL team (Swans) came first! Huge result, but it means nothing now. They play the Giants at not-the-SCG which is going to be a really tough game. They simply have to win to give themselves the best chance of making it. Although a win means they'll likely face Geelong or Hawthorn in week 3, which is a huge ask. I think the premiership is either Sydney's, Geelong's, or - God forbid - Hawthorn's again. I can't imagine the other five teams getting that far (especially North Melbourne) so I hope Sydney can put their best foot forward and win it. I was going to attend that game before I realised it's a huge sell-out, tickets were $70 with concession, and parking will be a total nightmare. I'll just stay home and watch it on TV.

VfB Oldenburg made a good second place in the regional league last season. Very close, like three points behind the leading team. Now after six match days we are already ten points behind the leading team. To be fair, our arch enemies SV Meppen seem to deserve their top spot, otherwise they wouldn't have 18 points in six matches.

For those who only know Premier League football, in Germany we have three professional leagues, the regional leagues are one level below those (so fourth highest), and you gotta be first in them to make it to the relegation play-offs for going into the third division (3. Liga) and play professionally, but my home team Oldenburg fucks this up spectacularly every year and will still be stuck in the Regionalliga Nord when my grandkids curse at them for it in their retirement home.

Quick question: anyone here actually play organised sport? For the first time since I was 14 I've joined a local sports club- I'll be playing b or c grade cricket over the summer. Forgot the almost immediate sense of belonging and brotherhood that a good sports club can bring. Inspired me to get a bit fitter too, and as it's not super elite or anything it's pretty casual- basically a bunch of pissheads joining up to get smashed and also play a bit of cricket.

Nah just a bit of fighting here and there

holy shit our teams are similar. I also drafted Brees and Taylor at QB, Jeremy Langford as my RB3 and Jordan Reed as my TE1. Maybe Langford could be a bust sorta like Carlos Hyde last year, but he played well when Forte was out. You have a pretty solid team overall, I have a feeling Dez is gonna flop but Green's poised to have a great year. Langford is a good guy to have in the flex because he could go either way and you've got solid starting RBs in Shady and Murray so it's not like you're relying on j-lang for much.

my team is:
QB: Drew Brees, Tyrod Taylor
RB: Todd Gurley (LA), Devonta Freeman (ATL), Jeremy Langford (CHI), Tevin Coleman (ATL), James White (NE)
WR: Sammy Watkins (BUF), Eric Decker (NYJ), Golden Tate (DET), Emmanuel Sanders (DEN)
TE: Jordan Reed (WAS), Coby Fleener (NO)
K: Justin Tucker (BAL)
D/ST: Chiefs

I went all out on RBs with my first two picks so I tried to load up on WR depth in the mid to late rounds. Not sure where it left me, but we'll see how it goes. I'm just excited to have a talent like Gurley on my team, he looks like something special.

So basically not much different from international cricket then, yeah?

Last organised team sport I did was back in university and it was a lot of fun. I play some squash now and then but nothing that could be called organised.

I wanted to pick up playing basketball again but it's one of those "I'll do that one day" sort of plans.

An AFL and NRL finals game was played tonight.

AFL game = absolute thriller that went right to the siren.

NRL game = a complete refereeing farce.

Responding to BastardHead's fantasy football post, here's my team for the league I play in where I can win money (I have two other teams in "bragging rights" leagues):

Team Name: Garoppolocalypse

QB: Carson Palmer, Jimmy Garoppolo
WR: Antonio Brown, Kelvin Benjamin, Donte Moncrief, Laquan Treadwell, Josh Gordon
RB: Giovanni Bernard, Jeremy Hill, TJ Yeldon, James White
TE: Gary Barnidge, Martellus Bennett
D/ST: Packers
K: Mason Crosby

I got lucky and won first pick this year, and you can probably guess who I snagged immediately. This year I decided to hold off until the 7th round to pick a starting QB, since I got back-to-back picks after the first round. Last year, not having solid WRs hurt me, whether it was due to injury or underproduction. I decided to pick up Garoppolo just in case he lights it up, but I think Palmer is a solid QB if he stays healthy. I feel pretty confident in this team, especially if the players I took a gamble on (Gordon, White, Treadwell, Garoppolo) can put up some numbers.

I have a second league but it's with my family and nobody but my mom and dad actually takes it seriously and/or knows what they're doing so it's usually a total joke that I can wipe the floor with. I was late getting to the draft and missed the first four rounds and still wound up with Ezekiel Elliott (!!), Le'Veon Bell, Amari Cooper, and Russell Wilson. Bell's suspension is going to suck at the beginning but that RB core should absolutely decimate provided they stay healthy.

Team: Le'Veon a Prayer

QB: Russel Wilson (SEA), Marcus Mariota (TEN)
RB: Ezekiel Elliott (DAL), Le'Veon Bell (PIT), Ryan Matthews (PHI), Duke Johnson Jr (CLE), Bilal Powell (NYJ)
WR: Amari Cooper (OAK), DeSean Jackson (WAS), Kelvin Benjamin (CAR), Josh Gordon (CLE), Kamar Aiken (BAL)
TE: Travis Kelce (KC)
K: Matt Prater (DET)
DST: New York Jets

Damn experts told me Benjamin was going to be slowly eased in after his injury so I didn't play him last night and of course he put up 91 yards and a TD, but whatever. Having both Bell and Gordon suspended for the start of the season is gonna suck but if they both play up to caliber it should hopefully pay off.

I fenced competitively/was in a club when I was 14-20, been meaning to get back into it since I need to get back in shape and moved to Chicago where the level of competition is pretty good.

About the sense of brotherhood and belonging from team sports... yeah I guess. Though I was always the weird kid who enjoyed playing goal, so maybe I belonged less than other guys

Pep's city dominated Mou's United at Old Trafford. Guardiola's style of play works everywhere and it's so entertaining to watch whether they win or lose.

Everywhere? Yeah right, that must be why he always goes to clubs who can afford any player they like. Let's see him go to Espanyol or fucking Stoke and win titles there.

I don't think he'd like a challenge. Wouldn't be up to it and would whine more than a thousand In Flames choruses. But yeah, I've said the exact same thing about him many times. And I don't think the two of us are the only people who think that.

-edit- BORUSSIA DORTMUND LOSES TO RED BULL LEIPZIG?!?

Also Kloppo discovered how to win again.

Bas Dost just scored today in his first game for Sporting Portugal (we won 3-0, BTW)!

Sporting Portugal? Your team represents the whole country now?

Dude, Sporting Portugal IS our true name. Calling us Sporting Lisbon is wrong.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sporting_ ... e_Portugal